Plus One
by Slightlyobsessed22
Summary: Yet another Daddy!Dean fic. Sorry. I know it's been done a million times, but I couldn't help myself. This is more the back story of how Alyssa came to be with Dean. I plan to finish it off with a series of one-shots once I've uploaded the whole back story. Set pre-series, with eventual A/U elements later on during the series as well. :) Rated T because it's Supernatural.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hey guys! I know that this has been done a million times before, but I just couldn't help it. Not sure why, but I'm a total softy for daddy fics. Anywho, here it is, be gentle. Let me know what you think, if you want to hear more or what not... :) Thanks for taking the time to read it. :)**

Dean was 22 years old when he met Sarah Willis at a dive bar in Austin, Texas. It was August of 2001 and Sam had left for college two weeks ago. Two painstakingly long weeks in Dean's mind. John was still pissed at him for not spilling the beans about Sammy's planned departure sooner.

John had passed out on the couch in the motel he and Dean were currently staying in. They had just taken down a Djinn and in typical John fashion, the celebration had been enough whiskey to put a normal man in a coma. The Winchester's however, were not normal men. Dean saw this as an opportunity for a night out, with no questions asked. Since Sam had left, John hadn't wanted Dean out of his sight. Dean on the other hand was itching for some freedom.

He walked out the door, silently locking it behind him. He had already made the decision to leave the impala here, in efforts to not accidentally wake John up. He needed this night of freedom more than he had ever needed freedom in his life. Luckily, Dean had seen a dive bar that was right up his alley only two blocks away. With his long legs he made it there in a matter of minutes.

That was when he met Sarah. A cute petite little blonde who was easily impressed by Dean's pool skills. She was also extremely impressed by his skills in bed.

Little did they know, only 9 months later their night of fun would bring about a little girl. One more Winchester in the world.

 **SPN SPN SPN**

Sarah Willis hadn't known at the time why she had kept one of Dean's 'business cards'. She knew it belonged to him, even though the last name didn't match what Dean had told her that night. He had seemed so cocky and proud about it, as if being a Winchester was the greatest thing in the world. The name on the card claimed he was Dean Bonham. Winchester fit him much better in her mind.

He had told her a lot of crazy things that night in his drunken state, things any normal person would have considered certifiable. For some reason though, Sarah believed him. She saw it in his eyes. He wasn't crazy, he wasn't lying. He was just a broken young man, trying to get things off of his chest.

So when the baby came, she thought it was only right to give her the last name Winchester after her father.

Alyssa Mae Winchester.

Sarah had toyed with the idea of calling Dean many times during her pregnancy and during the first year of Aly's life. However it was a small series of strange and terrifying events that finally made her pick up the phone.

 **SPN SPN SPN**

It was September 2003 when Dean received the voicemail. John was off chasing another lead on the thing that killed Mary 20 years earlier. He always became a little more obsessed during the fall, every year marking another year that the monster walked free. Dean was at a gas-n-sip, filling up the Impala when he dialed his voicemail password and listened to the message.

"Dean, it's… it's Sarah. Sarah Willis. From Austin back in '01? I, uh I really need your help. Remember when you told me you hunted things? Uh, monsters? Well there's something here. Something at my work… It... it sounds crazy, and I may sound desperate, but… but I really need your help. Please. If you get this message, we need your help."

Dean flipped the phone shut and closed his eyes. "Sarah." He said, a sly smile spreading across his lips. He didn't remember much from that night, except that Sarah was a total babe. Well that and the searing hangover from hell and lecture from John which tortured him the next day. But man, that Sarah. She was a babe. He hung up the gas nozzle and closed the cap. After paying for his gas he headed towards the interstate. It was only around a days drive to Austin. Dean figured he'd kick a little monster ass and receive a little in return.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Hey guys, thanks for reading. I hope that you are enjoying this. I had a lot of fun writing it.**

By the time Dean had reached Austin, he knew there was a case. He had made quite a few phone calls, and knew that the local Cracker Barrel, some chain restaurant Dean had never been to, had been dealt some bad luck. Or at least that's what the police were saying. One mutilation and two suicides all within the span of a week. Man police were idiots sometimes, like 2 suicides and one guy burning his arm off in the fry vat were just run of a mill bad luck.

The impala roared up the suburban street and pulled in front of a small blue house with yellowing grass out front. He checked the address- 525 Meadows Ave- before turning off the engine and walking up to the white peeling door. Dean ran a hand through his hair and put on his million dollar smile as he knocked on the door. It opened on the 2nd knock.

A young woman stood at the door in yoga pants and a large t-shirt with some orange substance splattered across the front. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a messy pony tail, but even despite the mess, she was still one of the most beautiful women Dean had laid eyes on. And in his short 24 years, Dean had laid his eyes upon a large amount of women.

"Dean." She said with a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad you could make it." She stepped aside and ushered Dean inside.

The first thing the young hunter noticed was the large amount of pink in the living room. A pink blanket laid out in the middle of the floor. Pink and white stuffed animals sitting around it, some odd pink polka dotted crescent shaped pillow and random baby toys spread throughout. On the brown couch by the front door there sat a basket overflowing with pink and white fabric.

The next thing that caught his eye was in the adjacent room. Sitting in the middle of the kitchen was a white high chair dotted with pink bunnies. Sitting in that high chair was a baby. A baby who was currently smearing orange mush all over the tray, her pink spoon forgotten to the side.

"You didn't tell me you had a kid." Dean said, not sure whether to laugh at the messy little thing or to high tale it out of there as fast as he could.

"Yeah. I do." Sarah said, walking into the kitchen, Dean close behind her. "She's 16 months old. Alyssa's her name." She continued on quietly. She said something else, but Dean could no longer hear her, for the baby had looked up at him and Dean caught sight of something far too familiar. Her eyes. The messy little kid has the greenest eyes he's ever seen, aside from, well, his own.

The child giggled and tried to pick up some of the mush with her hands, but it just fell right through. Instead she smeared her hands on her lips making an even bigger mess.

He was about to comment on the mess when a thought crossed his mind. _16 months._ How long ago had he been here? A little over 2 years? 16 months… with 9 months in the oven…

Dean's face when white as a sheet. "Uhhh…" he managed to get out, not yet able to make a full sentence of what he was thinking. He looked to Sarah.

The young woman took a deep breath and bit her lip slightly. "Yes." She said with a slight smile.

"16 months?" The hunter asked quietly. Sarah nodded, biting her lip.

"16 months exactly." She said carefully, eyeing Dean to see if he had made the correlation. Dean swallowed, this couldn't be true.

"No. No way. She's- She's not mine, right? She can't be, we uh, we used protection… right? I mean…"

Dean's thoughts were interrupted when the child giggled and squealed out "Da-da!" She picked up the spoon, flicking it towards Dean, the orange goop splattering all over Dean's face. _Awesome. Freaking awesome._


	3. Chapter 3

Shortly after the orange goop had found it's way to Dean's face, Sarah showed him to the bathroom to get cleaned up. She wiped up the child and the kitchen, and made her way to the living room. She sat Aly down on the floor, surrounded by her toys, and made her way over to the couch and began to fold clothes.

After what felt like an eternity, Dean finally came out of the bathroom, drying his face with a towel. Sarah looked up at Dean, trying to gauge what he was thinking, but the hunter had put on his best poker face, and there was nothing at all there for her to read.

"So…" The young hunter started. What was he supposed to say? He wasn't built to be a dad. He was only 24! And he wasn't the apple pie life kind of guy. He had never seen himself as the type to settle down. Hell, he'd never really been settled anywhere in own life, except for his first 4 years, which seemed like a whole different life.

Sarah sighed. "I didn't call you here to make you feel guilty, Dean. Or even to tell you about Aly. Honestly. I called because there is something going on here. At first I thought it was just a freak coincidence. The cook deep fried his hand." Sarah shook her head and shrugged. "We all thought he was crazy. Took 4 servers pulling with all of their body weight to get his hand out, or rather what was left of it. Two days later the night janitor drowned in his mop bucket." Sarah stood and absentmindedly picked up Aly and snuggled her close. "It wasn't until two days ago that I got worried…." She trailed off, leaning her head down against Aly's. She lifted her head and looked out the window.

"The police questioned me after it happened. I was the only witness, but it's not like I could really tell them anything. I mean, how many police officers do you know that would believe you if you said you a saw a ghost push someone out a window?" She shook her head and took another shaky breath. "It was after hours and we were both upstairs in the office. If it wasn't for the security camera that points right at the desk where I was, the police probably would have arrested me… instead they rule it a sucide… It wasn't a suicide, Dean." She turned to Dean, her eyes pleading him to believe her. "I swear it wasn't. Carl wasn't suicidal. He was standing by the window… we were talking about the next days line up of servers, and that's when I saw it… in the mirror. I saw it push Carl right out of the window… and then… then it looked right at me." She shuddered and held on tighter to the squirming baby.

"Don't worry Sarah." Dean told her earnestly. "I'll get to the bottom of this."

SPN SPN SPN SPN SPN

Dean sat on the couch in Sarah's living room reading the newspapers and coroner's reports he had picked up about the past two murders and the mutilation. He had already spoken to the guy who's hand had been burned off. He claimed that something had pulled his hand in, and that right before it happened, the usually hot kitchen had dropped at least 20 degrees. All sources so far were pushing towards a spirit. Only problem was, there wasn't any record of anyone besides the two saps this week dying at the cracker barrel. So much for an easy case.

And then there was the issue of this whole kid thing. The very kid that Sarah was upstairs with, trying to get to go to sleep. The kid that had only been in the same room as him for a few minutes before screaming Dada and throwing food at him. Sarah of course had said that it was just baby babble, but it sure didn't seem like it to Dean. Sarah had said that she wasn't looking for Dean to be a father. Just for help solving the case. So that's what he threw himself into.

However no matter how hard he tried to push the thoughts away, the baby- _his baby-_ kept swimming into his mind. Her big green eyes and little blonde wispy pigtails. The thought of her damn near made his heart stop. It was the last thing he had been expecting. It scared the hell out of him. But if he was honest with himself, which rarely happened, he almost liked it.

Sarah walked down the stairs which sat opposite the couch and brought Dean out of his thoughts. "She's asleep now." She told him with a tired smile. "We should have an hour and half or so before she wakes up." She disappeared into the kitchen. "Want something to drink?" she called.

"A beer would be great." Dean called to her, turning his attention back to the papers in front of him. Sarah came out of the kitchen, an opened bottle of beer in one hand, and a large glass of sweet tea in the other. She handed the beer to Dean and sat down in the rocking chair to the right of the couch. She took a sip of her tea and closed her eyes.

"You look exhausted." Dean remarked, taking a sip of his beer.

Sarah laughed once without humor. "Yeah. Being a single parent will do that to you… 'course being the manager at a haunted restaurant doesn't help much either." Sarah opened her eyes and looked at Dean. "So, can you help?"

Dean almost spit out his beer. "Uhh, well, I'm on the road a lot…" He mumbled, running his hand through his hair.

Sarah laughed for real this time. "I meant with the ghost thing." She said flashing Dean a smile. "I meant what I said earlier Dean. I'm not looking for a father for Aly, and I'm not looking for a handout. Aly and I, we're fine. I mean, I'm glad that you know now… and if you want to be a part of her life I won't stop you… but I'm not expecting it. I just, I just really need this job, but I also don't want to die… you know?"

Dean nodded. "Okay." He said a little gruffly. "So what changed a week ago to piss off Casper? Renovations, new hires… anything like that?"

Sarah shook her head. "No. Nothing like that…" She sighed. "We haven't had to hire a new person in over 2 months… and Cracker Barrels are built to suit. There's no need to change anything."

Dean pursed his lips in thought. "Okay then… How about cold spots, flickering lights… unexplained scratching?"

"Just in the last week. I'm telling you Dean. Everything was the same, normal, until last Tuesday. Then it started getting cold randomly and the lights were flickering… I figured it was something electrical. Even called the company maintenance man but he couldn't find anything. A day later Joey deep fried his hand… and the night that Carl was pushed out the window, I could have sworn that I heard scratching a few minutes before hand…"

"Okay, and you said you saw the ghost? What did it look like?"

Sarah took a deep breath to steady herself. "It was a man. And he was old… and angry… and his clothes… he was wearing what looked overalls, but old ones. Like something out of a history book, or one of the pictures hung up around the place."

"You have pictures of old dudes in your restaurant?" Dean asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I manage a Cracker Barrel Dean." She told him with a small smile. "Old things are our signature. The owner is constantly buying up antiques and having us add them to our collection. It's part of what makes our particular Cracker Barrel so special. We have more antiques and heirlooms than any other Cracker Barrel in Texas.

Dean held up his hand. "Wait a minute, your restaurant is full of antiques, and you're always getting more… When was something last added?" Dean asked, all of the pieces starting to fall into place.

"Uhm, the last shipment came in… about a week ago…" Sarah paused, an incredulous look crossing her face. "You don't think that has anything to do with the ghost, do you?"

"What came in the last shipment?" Dean asked, leaning on the edge of his seat.

Sarah thought for a moment. "An old cash register, a pitch fork… a painting of a homestead, and an old shot gun… How do those things have anything to do with a ghost?" She asked.

"Spirits can hang on to important artifacts from their lives. Heirlooms, the weapon they were murdered with, or even something that they used in their everyday lives. Do you guys get any sort of documentation with the items?" Dean asked, starting to piece together the plan. "If we can figure out which item the sucker is tied to, then I can gank this sonuvabitch."

"We have a file with all of the bill of sales and what not in the office at work. Will that help?" She asked.

"Sounds like a great start." Dean said standing up. "Let's go get it."

Sarah raised her eyebrows at him. "Okay, only two small problems with that. One, we are closed today out of respect for Carl, and two, Aly is still asleep, and my sitter doesn't get done with school until 4."

Dean froze. 'Oh yeah. The baby' he thought. He had completely forgotten about her. See? He knew he'd never make it as a dad. He pulled out his cell phone and checked the time. 12:47. 3 hours until he could get started. Besides, if the place was closed it probably would be best to wait until dark. "Is there any other way that we can get the info on the pieces?" He asked, sitting back down on the couch. If he was going to go in guns blazing tonight, he had better have a plan.


	4. Chapter 4

The plan to get all of the history on the objects didn't pan out so well. The only information Dean had been able to dig up was that of the gun. Then again, it was the most likely piece especially after learning of it's back story. Turns out this particular gun was used by a man named Nathaniel Rogers. He had shot and killed his dad with it back in 1947. The last two places to have the gun had complained of flickering lights as well. It seemed pretty likely that it was the culprit. With everything figured out, Dean still had 2 hours to wait until dark, and, as Sarah had pointed out, for the sitter to get here. Even though it went against everything he believed in, Sarah has persuaded Dean to let her come along, seeing as how only she knew for sure which of the shotguns in the building was the one they were looking for.

The next two hours gave Dean a nice view of the apple pie life. He helped fold clothes- they were so tiny! He had even made up a bottle, with Sarah giving him instructions while rocking the screaming child. At one point, Sarah had even pressed the small child into Dean's arms so that she could run to the bathroom. Dean had tried to object, but Sarah didn't take no for an answer, and the cute little thing sat on his lap happily, pulling on his ears and giggling, green eyes twinkling and a big open mouth showing off her 5 little baby teeth. No matter how hard he tried to remain unaffected, this little girl was doing her best to steal his heart.

The hunter sat cross-legged on the floor, rolling a ball to the little girl, _his_ little girl, as he was starting to see her. He couldn't help but smile as she shrieked and tumbled after the ball, picking it up and trying to mimic his throwing, her abilities allowing the ball to only go about a foot. The young hunter swore to never admit it, but he knew he could get used to this apple pie life, especially with this little cutie and her mother around.

 ** _Ding Dong._** The door bell sounded, bringing Dean back to reality. He stood up to get the door, but before he could walk to it, Alyssa ran into his legs and sat on one of Dean's feet, wrapping her arms and legs around his leg. Sarah came down the stairs, throwing her wet hair up into a pony tail. "I got it." She said walking towards the door. She looked through the peep hole and turned to Dean. "It's Suzie. She's here to watch Alyssa."

Dean looked at down at the little girl who was wrapped around his leg, giggling. He wasn't sure if he was ready to leave this little ball of sunshine just yet.

"Dean, this is Suzie. Suzie, this is Dean." Sarah introduced as she put on her jacket. Dean gave the kid a once over, not sure that he approved of what he saw. Suzie was a small kid, about 5 feet tall, and probably 90lbs soaking wet. Her red curly hair was pulled up into a side pony tail and she was carrying a hello kitty back pack.

Alyssa looked up and saw the girl and gave a shriek of joy, and ran to her. When Suzie leaned to pick her up, Dean gestured at Sarah to meet him in the kitchen. "Suzie." He said with a nod as he walked past her, following Sarah into the kitchen. Sarah turned to look at Dean, a quizzical look on her face.

"What's wrong?" She asked when they were out of ear shot of the living room.

Dean gestured toward the living room. "What's wrong?" He mimicked. "What's wrong is that you leave our daughter alone with Suzie? She's still just a kid too! What if something happens? You can't honestly expect little miss 12 year old out there to keep Aly safe, can you?"

Sarah's previously amused featured gave way to annoyance. "Really Dean?" She sighed, shaking her head. "Suzie is 16. She is CPR certified. She has taken two babysitter courses and is in Child Development classes at school. She has all of the emergency contact information right here on the fridge, and she has been watching Aly since I had to go back to work 2 months after she was born." Sarah sighed again, all defensiveness melting away as she saw the genuine concern on his face. "Look, I don't have anyone else Dean. I don't have family. I grew up an orphan in the foster care system. Suzie's mom is my boss. She owns the Cracker Barrel I work at. They are the closest thing to family that I have ever had. I've been lucky to have someone like Suzie. Besides, Aly really loves her. Watch." With that, Sarah took Dean's hand and led him to the archway which lead to the living room.

Suzie sat on the couch, Alyssa seated in her lap, reading the book Stellaluna to the enchanted little one. Dean couldn't help but smile. He still didn't like the thought of leaving his baby with a girl who was practically a baby herself, but they had work to do.

They said their goodbyes, Dean even receiving a sloppy hug and kiss from Alyssa. "Mommy loves you, Aly. Be good." Sarah said as she shut the door behind them. They both got into the Impala and headed to the cracker barrel.


End file.
